14—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Pec. 7. 1974 THE FOOD STAMP ISSUE When he first gave his ideas on graduated pricing to then Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace, little could Fred Waugh know that his proposals would become the backbone of this Nation’s biggest welfare program. Waugh didn’t use tne words “food stamps” in his memorandum of January 20, 1938, to Secretary Wallace. An official of the Treasury By the early sixties, the Department came up -with farmer’s old headache of the food stamp notion as the surplus production pained best way to put into practice again, and again food Waugh’s theories on stamps were prescribed as graduated pricing. the remedy for helping ‘T do not claim credit for farmers on the one hand and inventing a new idea,” the Nation’s poor on the Waugh wrote Secretary other. Wallace. “Briefly, my Nagging poverty proposal is that our farm In the late sixties, relief programs put more however, the plight of the emphasis on selling part of needy took precedent the crop at high prices and Farm surpluses had been distributing the remainder, whittled down, but the ranks or ’surplus’ among low- of the poor had not. income groups, charging So the lawmakers in 1970 them whatever they can made changes in the food afford to pay, or are willing stamp program, making it to pay.” easier for more low-income families to take part. By „ . u mid-1974, over 13% million wJuO* persons were getting the Wallace bought the con- stamps> increase 0 f over cept, and for obvious f our fold from 1969, although i;t a H So ™v ,7 e „ r ITSS admittedly some of this was S..r k ., Ld Lfi? d ” to “• I* l "**"* * su P luses ’ commodity distribution A W r ri oa m „fTere° f S * Ttiingry- Food stamps offered MeLtime, taxpayers have the appealing combination of. solvmgihe surplus problems m not of agriculture and the J stomach problems of the needy. Rochester, N.Y., was selected as the city to try out food stamps. Low-income families welcomed them. The program enjoyed im mense success untO 1943, when World War II bad turned food surpluses into shortages. The food stamp program was suspended, not to be revived until 1961. families a blanket check to spend as they please? Otherwise knows as a cash income supplement, this approach doesn’t seem to insure that poor families will indeed use the money to buy food, so say studies made by A TIME FOR ACTION Through the years HARVESTORE farmers have helped solve their high feed cost and labor problems by feeding Haylage and High Moisture Corn. Chances are HARVESTORE has been a topic in one of your discussions. Well, Penn-Jersey HARVESTORE is pleased to introduce an Interest Earning Deposit Program. This Program offers three good reasons to consider purchasing that HARVESTORE now. That’s right, the deposit you put on your HARVESTORE earns you a high rate of interest and although the HARVESTORE isn’t needed until Spring, your price is protected. This program is so great we invite you to contact Penn-Jersey HAR VESTORE for more information. the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS). ERS’s latest analysis of the food stamp issue con firms earlier reports - that food stamps are about twice as effective as cash income 1 Your HARVESTORE deposit earns a year’s interest in 5 months. 2. The price you pay is protected until next April. 3. You are guaranteed storage for spring. POM-eSEY HARVESTORE SYSTEMS, INC. supplements in terms of building food demand. Stamps’ merits Unlike cash handouts, bonus stamps can only be redeemed for food. Bonus stamps are those given free to program participants over and above stamps bought through the purchase requirement. For example, consider a family of four with a monthly income of $2OO and a monthly foodbill of $lOO. Under the food stamp program, this family would pay $59 a P.0.80x N 0.91 New Holland, Pa. 17557 717-354-4051 month for $l6O worth of food stamps. The family is now able to up food purchases by $5O a month, or 50 percent leaving